Magnussen’s session ended after just one lap when his car caught flames as he returned to the pits causing the session to be red-flagged. Renault mechanics rushed to the car without fireproof overalls to put out the fire and installed a tube to drain fuel from the fuel tank, which was leaking fuel onto the engine cover.
“We had a fuel leak from a breather,” Chester told Sky Sports.

“We were running the tank full. We were running some experimental parts in preparation for [the Mexican Grand Prix]. It was a different set up to other car [of Jolyon Palmer].

“Everyone is OK, which is the main thing, and fortunately the car doesn’t seem to be too damaged, so we will try to get him out for FP2 – there’s a fair bit of work to do, but we’ll try.”

When questioned on the matter, Chester also commented that the mechanics should have been wearing fire protective overalls when approaching the car, which are only mandatory during qualifying and the race.

“Obviously it should be people with overalls that go to that first; we did make the call that it should only be people with overalls,”